Section 508 Refresh to Include Requirement for Human Based Testing
St. Paul, Minnesota (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- There are changes coming to Section 508, the web accessibility guidelines mandated by the US government. The most critical change coming to Section 508 is the requirement to include human-based testing in determining website accessibility. According to the World Wide Web Consortium(the developers of the WCAG 2.0 standards), “All WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria are written as testable criteria for objectively determining if content satisfies them. Testing the Success Criteria would involve a combination of automated testing and human evaluation. The content should be tested by those who understand how people with different types of disabilities use the Web.”
“WCAG is an excellent guide to making any website or online venue accessible to all people, regardless of their ability or disability,” said Lynn Wehrman, CEO of WeCo, a company offering human-based accessibility testing for websites. “The attention WCAG is getting from being incorporated into Section 508 indicates that the marketplace and the government are viewing accessibility as a part of everyday online access. Making your website accessible is no longer a suggestion or an added bonus. It will determine who gets more of the market share, who qualifies for federal programs and dollars and who stays relevant in the eyes of a more aware public.”
These standards highly recommends the use of automatic testing alongside human evaluation. WeCo is partnering with a local branch of a world-wide web governance business who provides an automatic checker for website accessibility. This combination makes WeCo poised to fulfill this WCAG 2.0 requirement.
“When standards as widely-accepted and applied as the WCAG becomes a part of the US legal landscape, it changes not only how we build websites, but also how we verify that they are accessible,” commented Wehrman. Since WeCo already offers human-based testing, we will be ahead of the curve when the new law comes into effect. Wehrman continues, “Because WCAG conformance guidelines includes human verification, people living with disabilities will finally be included in the process of ensuring online venues are accessible to them. This is monumental. Most prior verification has been done by machines, which automated testing firms admit are accurate only 25-40% of the time when used in lieu of human testing.”
Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, WeCo is a mission-based, for-profit organization. While creating a strong accessibility learning environment for your organization, we also provide professional employment to people who live with disabilities. Considering that up to 80% of people in this group are either unemployed or employed below their education and capability levels makes the work WeCo does even more uplifting and important. WeCo is recognized by the State of Minnesota as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise. In WeCo’s first year in business they were featured in the MarketWatch Wall Street Journal, Google Finance and Tech(dot)MN. Find more about the company at theweco.com.
Toni Grundstrom, The Wehrman Collaborative, http://theweco.com, 855-849-5050 5, [email protected]
Share this article